On Thursday, there were disruptions to card payments across the country for several hours, for example at supermarket checkouts. The problems affected debit, credit and giro cards, a spokesman for the German banking industry said. Withdrawals from ATMs at banks and savings banks were not affected by the problems.
The Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI for short, announced that the disruptions had occurred “at various financial institutions.” The company is in contact with those affected and the relevant authorities. In the afternoon, the BSI sent out a statement saying that the disruption had now been resolved.
The German banking industry said that the reason for the disruption was problems with an IT service provider and with providers connected to it. The matter is being analyzed. A cyberattack can currently be ruled out, said a spokesperson.
The IT service provider affected is First Data, which belongs to the US group Fiserv. A company spokesperson said there was a technical problem with some processing services.
Problems with card payments occur again and again
The problems were widespread and significant, but they are not record-breaking. Restrictions on cashless payments are occurring again and again, most recently in May of this year, when software errors caused problems with card payment terminals. About two years ago, technical problems even led to card payments being out of action for several days.
“These large-scale disruptions rarely happen, but they have enormous consequences, as many people now rely on their cards and carry little or no cash with them in their everyday lives,” said specialist lawyer David Riechmann from the NRW consumer advice center. Retailers have a duty to inform customers in good time about the lack of the option to pay by card, “so that there are no unnecessary nasty surprises at the checkout,” said Riechmann.
“Disruptions to card payments are always problematic for retailers,” said Stefan Genth, CEO of the German Retail Association. Customers are then unsettled; this can also lead to them postponing their purchases. Retailers pay money to network operators and card providers for the use of cashless payment systems. “In return, they must also be able to expect that the technology works perfectly.”